Drag Racing

Del Rio, Texas
Today was beautiful. Cool this morning and warn this afternoon. Enjoying it is required because we are supposed to get hot again tomorrow.

My new kayak handles well. For three hours I paddled it around on part of the lake we are near. It handles just as well in two feet of water as it does in one hundred feet of water. There were no waves of any size to experiment with, so I played in a few boat wakes. This little boat will surf very easily I found. Now that was fun. At first I stayed in the cove behind the boat ramp because if I fell out and the boat got away the wind would blow it to shore near to the upset spot. With my PFD on it would be easy to splash my way on over and retrieve the boat. We never came close to parting company. The hull design of Malibu Kayaks X series is wonderful.

The SOT kayak is a boat I should have gone to years ago. It is so easy to get in and out that it feels ridiculous that I spent so many years fighting the sit in kayaks. The only drawback is you pretty well have to get you feet wet to board or exit the boat. However all you do is act like you are about to sit in a low chair and sit. To get out just swing your legs over the side just like you are in a chair and stand up. It is so easy that even the old fat man can do it without groans.
After some getting acquainted time, I took the boat out toward the larger part of the lake. The peninsula sticking into the lake across from the boat ramp was my first beaching attempt. WOW tooooo easy to believe. In fact I backed off a couple of times to be certain it was really that easy. Here is the spot where I beached it.

The water you see just above the kayak is so clear that it looked like I was going aground a ways out from shore. My nearly seven foot paddle did not even touch bottom ten feet from shore. This water clarity really messes me up. In the above picture you can see above the stern of the yak near the upper top of the water what looks like a post way out in the lake. It is really a large buoy marking the inlet of blackbrush and the boat ramp. My route took me out past the buoy and around into the next cove. The hull speed on the boat is a little over three miles per hour, so it is not fast. The speed it does make is with very minimal effort.

After that last exploration, we returned to the blackbrush cove to mess around some more. Here is a shot from across the boat ramp while I am seated in the boat floating along. This is really a good boat.

Just after taking the picture, I started a conversation with a fellow fishing in a very nice boat with his dog. It was a neat dog and the fellow was catching fish. We talked for a while and he gave me a worm like he was using so I could buy the right color tomorrow. He also showed me the method he was using to catch the bass. It turns out he is a national drag racing driver and Del Rio is his hideaway. He was a great fellow to visit with. By now I was out of drinking water and had been on the water over three hours, so I paddled over to the ramp and took the boat home.

After some snacking, I decided to try fishing again. So I drove back to the launch area and got all my gear in my pockets and went to get my rod from the back of the truck. It is not there!!!!! Then I remembered taking it out to carry the boat. OK back home to get the rod and back to the launch area. All right Mr. Senile get out and catch fish. Of all the silly things I did finally catch a bass. It was not big, but it was a catch.


Apparently I had a lot of fun today because I am TIRED. So I better get rested for another busy day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM